


Simple

by Capella (Caprina)



Category: due South
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-20
Updated: 2014-01-20
Packaged: 2018-01-09 11:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1145250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caprina/pseuds/Capella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short sequel to 'Weird', from 2006.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Simple

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Elfscribe, as ever!

When Fraser met his ritual offer of beer with a quiet "Yes, please," Ray wasn't particularly surprised, even though it was a first. You see enough weirdness in any one day and it starts to seem like normality. He handed the bottle over without comment and watched one blunt thumb wiping a path through the droplets on its curve before asking, "You want a glass for that?"

Fraser glanced up at him briefly. "No thank you, the bottle's fine."

So Ray took the other end of the couch and watched Fraser's lips forming an O around the bottle neck, the movement of Fraser's throat as he swallowed.

So this is it, he thought. Or is it? Funny how it'd all seemed so simple earlier, in the car.

They discussed the case for a while, the straightforward parts of it: the lead up to the Brotherhood bust, how it was likely to go down in court. Take the monster out of it and the rest was pretty clear cut, but they pulled it apart anyway. That was what they did at the end of a case, and it was a hell of a lot easier to deal with than the other stuff.

Eventually the conversation slid to a halt, but something was telling Ray they needed to keep talking. He shut his eyes, trying to get it together, and saw the creature again behind his lids, in horrible 3-D technicolour. "Ngggh," he shuddered.

"Ray?"

"Jesus, Fraser. The thing had three heads, and all of them disgusting."

"It certainly did," Fraser said calmly.

"You ever seen anything like it?"

For a moment it looked as if Fraser was going to launch off into something, some crazy story about an Inuit devil or a weird-ass northern ice monster, but he just blinked and said, kind of gently, "Not in reality, Ray, no."

"Good thing you saw it today though, I'm telling you. 'Cos if it'd just been me, I'd be turning myself in, you know, lock me in the rubber room and throw away the key... What?" he demanded as Fraser let out a bark of laughter.

"Well, Ray, things have reached a pretty pass if you're having to use me as a yardstick for your sanity. I believe Inspector Thatcher would question your judgement in that respect, not to mention Lieutenant Welsh."

"Yeah right," Ray grinned, "But I mean, you might be a freak, but there's nothing wrong with your eyesight, is there? Fraser sees it, you know it's there."

This time the laugh sounded nervous, and Fraser himself cut it short, muttering something about irony.

"What? What is it, Frase?"

Fraser was avoiding his eyes, shaking his head. "It's not important."

Ray glared, hating the brush-off, but his instincts were telling him not to push Fraser on this one, to let it go. Just keep him here on the couch, relaxed and talking. Don't scare him away.

"So, what about the Doctor," Ray said, going for the strategic subject change. "You figure he's for real?"

Fraser snapped his head back round towards him, and for a moment his surprise at Ray's lack of persistence was visible on his face. But all he said was, "Real in what sense, Ray?"

"You know what I mean. I'm pretty sure he's one of the good guys, but the rest of it I'm not buying. No way is he who he says he is."

"Well, we did see his ID," Fraser said without any real conviction.

"Yeah, and you and I both know how easy it is to fake that. You ever heard of that Institute of Extra-Terrestrial whatsis?"

"No, but I can quite understand why the British government would want to keep its existence quiet."

Ray snorted, and took another swig of beer.

"There was something odd about the Doctor, though," Fraser said, just as the silence was starting to feel awkward. 

"Yeah?"

Fraser cleared his throat, and stared at the bottle as he twirled it between his hands. "You might think I've a hole in my bag of marbles," he said slowly.

"Fraser, I know you have. A hole the size of Illinois."

"Right. But whoever he works for, I'm, ah, I'm not actually certain that the Doctor is human."

Ray coughed up most of a mouthful, spluttering around his hand. "What the hell are you talking about?" 

"As I said, Ray, not human, which would make him some other species, although I'm not entirely -"

"Wait a minute," Ray said quickly. "What're you basing this on? His smell, or something? 'Cos please tell me you didn't actually get to lick him?"

Fraser didn't miss a beat. "There is a definite chemical imbalance noticeable in his scent, certainly; an imbalance which would normally be sufficient to inhibit even the basic functions of the organism. Yet the Doctor appears to be quite healthy."

"Wha-" 

"And then there’s his heartbeat," Fraser added, frowning at the coffee table.

"You checked his vitals?" Ray came close to choking on his beer for the second time.

"I noticed the pulse in his neck while we were waiting to open the door and let the creature in, but assumed I must have been mistaken. When we shook hands this evening I, ah, lingered as long as I could without seeming impolite, so as to confirm my initial observation."

"And?"

"I've never come across its like. A most peculiar rhythm," Fraser said.

"But Christ, Fraser, not human? That is beyond freaky, even by your standards. Are you sure?"

Fraser looked unhappy. "Perhaps if Diefenbaker had been with us, he could have given us a second opinion."

"Or you could always have asked the Doctor himself," Ray said, "But it doesn't look like we'll be getting another chance to do that." It was probably not knowing that was worrying Fraser, as much as the whole non-human bit. The poor guy wouldn't sleep for a week for having left the mystery unsolved. 

"Asked him?"

"Yeah, why not? About his pulse, I mean, not like 'Hey, are you human?' in the middle of dinner. There could've been some other explanation. He looked human enough to me." 

"Perhaps you're right, I should have asked." Fraser seemed unconvinced. He cleared his throat again and fixed his attention back on his beer bottle.

Ray looked across at Fraser's arms, emerging smoothly from the rolled-up sleeves of his T shirt, and down at the broad hands splayed over Fraser's denim covered knees. He listened to a siren in the street, the faint TV noise from the next door apartment, while he wondered what else to say.

"Of course," Fraser said suddenly, "we often leave the question unasked because we lack the courage to face up to the answer. And because simply by asking, we would already be committing ourselves so far as to make change inevitable."

Ray's body realised it before his mind did, the faint tingling starting all over his skin. Whoa - just like that, they'd moved on from monsters, and aliens, and crazy English guys who might not be English at all. 

"You mean, you're pretty certain there's something really weird going on, but then again you might just be misinterpreting the facts," Ray said carefully. "And if you have misinterpreted and everything's actually normal, putting it into words makes you the weird one for having thought it up in the first place."

"That's certainly part of it." Fraser was speaking quietly, staring straight ahead. "On the other hand, sometimes the weirdness is self-evident, and the only real question is the extent, the depth of it."

If Ray'd had any doubts as to what they were talking about, the absolute stillness of Fraser's shoulders, his refusal to turn around and meet Ray's stare, would have confirmed it.

"Like, look back five years from now and think, 'hey, that was hinky' weirdness, versus the full, legs out from under you, life-changing deal?" Ray asked, leaning forward to bring his face closer to Fraser's even though the Mountie still wouldn't look round.

"Essentially, yes," Fraser said faintly. The room seemed very quiet.

Ray took a deep breath. "And of the two options, which one scares you more?" he said softly.

He forced himself to wait for Fraser's reply. "Oh, Ray. You must know by now that I will never find it easy to be... casual."

"Well, I guess that makes two of us," Ray said, before he could think himself out of it.

Finally, Fraser turned to look at him. And that was the question, and the answer, right there all over his face. Ray'd thought he knew what he was doing, getting into this whole cards on the table thing. Now, staring straight into thirty years worth of loneliness and hope in Fraser's eyes, he realised that he was way out of his depth.

"I'll get another drink." He started up and reached for the empty bottle on the table, but Fraser just wrapped a hand around his wrist and kept it there.

Ray didn't seem to have much choice, so he sank back onto the couch and Fraser held onto his arm. Neither of them spoke. When Ray had to look away from the intensity of Fraser's face, he focused on their hands instead. After a while Fraser slid his fingers down to grasp the back of Ray's hand, his thumb pressing into Ray's palm and moving in deep, firm circles. Once Ray remembered to breathe, he sounded as if he'd been sprinting.

"Ray," Fraser said, and that was all. Even he didn't seem to have words for this. 

So it was obvious that if they were going to get the question out there in the open, direct enough for there to be no doubt, Ray was going to have to be the one to say it. And he could do that, despite the fact that there still didn't seem to be enough oxygen reaching his lungs.

"Hey, Fraser, are we really going to do this?" he asked.

Fraser gazed at him, painfully serious. "If you'll have me," he said. He lifted both their hands and kept on staring at Ray while he touched the backs of Ray's fingers to his lips. Then, very slowly, he licked his way up the middle one and sucked it right into his mouth.

The effect was immediate, and Ray could sense it everywhere. It wasn't just excitement, it was a rush of blood and heat that felt a lot like certainty. 

Fraser released his finger and waited silently.

"Okay then," Ray said, smiling.

Fraser smiled back with the whole of his face, and suddenly everything was simple again.


End file.
